70-Vehicle Pileup Kills 1 in W. Michigan

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 6, 2003

A collision between a car and truck in a blinding snowstorm led to a 72-car pileup Friday in western Michigan, killing one person and leaving others trapped in the wreckage.

At least six of the 29 people taken to hospitals were critically injured, hospital officials said. Most of the rest were treated and released.

A car ran underneath a semitrailer on Interstate 94 about 30 miles north of the Indiana line, followed by the fiery crash of a tanker. Before long, dozens of cars were strewn across a half-mile stretch of highway.

"It was like someone put a white handkerchief on your face and you couldn't see through it," said Constance Simmons, 52, a passenger in one of the dozens of vehicles involved in the crash. She wasn't injured.

A 12-mile stretch of I-94, the main thoroughfare connecting Detroit and Chicago, was closed in both directions, then reopened late Friday.

Heavy snow moving eastward off nearby Lake Michigan had been falling for hours before the crash. The interstate had been plowed but high winds had lowered visibility to "just about zero," State Police Lt. Joseph Zangaro said.